Alexander Zverev booked his place in the Hamburg Open semi-finals with a straight-sets victory over Zhizhen Zhang.
The top seed - and reigning champion - kept his title defence very much on track, prevailing 6-4 6-3 after 66 minutes on Center Court.
Zverev dominated on serve during the opening set, dropping just three points, while a break in game five paved the way for him to move halfway towards victory.
The home favourite made another statement of intent when he broke in the opening game of the second set.
Another break followed at 5-3 to secure victory and send the Italian Open champion through to his seventh ATP semi-final of the season - and third on clay, having also reached the French Open final.
There, he will play Pedro Martinez after the Spaniard beat fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo in three sets.
Data Debrief: Statement of intent from Zverev
The German demonstrated his desire to maintain his hold on the trophy he won in front of his home crowd last season, and become only the third player this century to successfully defend the crown after Roger Federer and Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Indeed, Zverev hit 10 aces and won 29 of 33 points on first serve (88%), while converting three of his four break-point opportunities.
Stefanos Tsitsipas will play Matteo Berrettini in the Swiss Open semi-finals, after seeing off Fabio Fognini in straight sets on Friday.
The two-time major finalist, who is making his first appearance in Gstaad, took 66 minutes to wrap up a 6-4 6-3 victory over the Italian on Roy Emerson Court.
Though he relinquished an early break in the opening set, Tsitsipas claimed a crucial one at 5-4 to edge his nose in front.
Despite seeing another early break cancelled out in the second set, the Greek managed to earn another, and eventually progressed to the last four in comfortable fashion.
"My returns worked pretty well, I was very consistent with them," he said. "I insisted on staying back throughout the match and giving it a bit of a loop, trying to get the angles from the very beginning. It worked pretty well.
"I'm happy with how I started serving towards the end of the match. In the beginning, I was still trying to figure out how I was going to open up the court and create opportunities on my serve. It took me a while to figure out. I unlocked the code towards the end."
Another Italian lies in wait for Tsitsipas in Berrettini, who overcame Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-2).
The former Wimbledon finalist is seeking his second clay-court title of the season, having also triumphed in Marrakech, while he was runner-up to Jack Draper in Stuttgart last month.
Data Debrief: Another Italian Job well done by Tsitsipas
Reigning Monte-Carlo Masters champion Tsitsipas is through to his fourth ATP semi-final of the season, with three of those coming on clay, while recording his fifth straight victory in as many meetings with Fognini.
The Greek now boasts an impressive 14-1 record against Italian opponents on surface - his only such defeat coming against Jannik Sinner in Rome four years ago.
Nadal comes from behind to seal Swedish Open semi-final spot
Rafael Nadal booked his place in the Swedish Open semi-finals after coming from behind to deny Mariano Navone in Bastad.
The 22-time major winner recovered from losing the opening set to prevail 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 7-5 in just under four hours on Centre Court.
Nadal was slow out of the blocks against the fourth seed, who broke his opponent three times in the opening set for a 4-1 lead.
The Spaniard dug deep and responded to lead 6-5 but Navone - a finalist on clay in Rio and Bucharest - dominated the tie-break 7-2 to draw first blood.
Both players continued to struggle on serve in the second set, with Nadal crucially breaking in game 11 before holding to level.
The 37-year-old recovered from an early break in the decider, reeling off five successive games for a 5-2 lead. Navone fought back to 5-5, but was broken in the following game with Nadal subsequently serving out to set up a semi-final clash with Duje Ajdukovic.
Data Debrief: Comeback king Nadal seals semi-final return
Not since Wimbledon in 2022 had Nadal reached an ATP semi-final, withdrawing on the eve of his clash with Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal injury.
His hopes of doing so seemed bleak early on, with world number 36 Navone threatening to become the lowest-ranked player to beat him on clay since 2016.
However, the 22-time major winner dug deep, and is now just two wins away from his first silverware since landing a 14th French Open crown 25 months ago.
Murray eyed for PTPA role by Pospisil as retirement looms
As three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray prepares to bow out from the sport he loves at the Paris Olympics, he could soon be a man in demand.
The two-time Wimbledon victor got the fitting tribute his career deserved at his home slam, but not in the circumstances he wanted.
A back injury ruled him out of the singles, and his last match on centre court was a doubles defeat alongside his brother Jamie.
Murray will retire following the summer games, where he hopes to add to his two Olympic golds won at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
But one tennis rival may already have his next career path in mind.
When Vasek Pospisil is not on the court, he is busy pushing for improvements for players off the court with the Professional Tennis Players' Association.
Co-founded with 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, the PTPA aims to 'address player challenges and calls for change within the business of professional tennis.'
What started as an idea thought up by Pospisil and Djokovic in 2019 was formally created two years later.
Three years and 'thousands of hours' on, players across the ATP and WTA Tours are reaping the rewards.
"The first few years were just growing pains. It was so many thousands of hours. The amount of hours, especially those first three or four years to get some momentum and organise players and just try to get the building blocks in place," Pospisil told Stats Perform.
"Tennis has a long way to go from the player side. But as a sport, it's an incredible sport. It's one-on-one combat.
"That's why it's the third or fourth most watched sport in the world. So there's so much there. And players have been underserviced and it's time for change. And that's where we come in."
"We want hundreds of players to be able to make a living. When I say hundreds, I mean three or 400 on the men's side and three or 400 on the women's side.
"Currently it's about a hundred on each, right? And that's unacceptable in a multi-billion dollar industry with the value that these players are bringing to the table.
"In the meantime, we're trying to generate revenue for players, extra revenue through group licensing programs that hasn't existed prior to the PTPA."
Murray, who Pospisil has competed against on six occasions and beaten just once, has long been a voice of reason on the ATP tour, and has gained respect for his support of the WTA.
That hasn't gone unnoticed by Pospisil, who plans to reach out to the Brit once the curtain comes down on his illustrious career.
"I really like Andy. He was always so nice in the locker room and just a good guy," he said.
"And I know that in previous years, I'd seen several quotes and articles and in the press where he'd spoken out about the importance of having independent player representation.
"I haven't spoken to him in a few years since the start of the PTPA, and it's something that I definitely want to revisit.
"When you really look under the hood, you look past all the all the nonsense that's been spewed as a counter argument to why the PTPA shouldn't exist and why it's bad for tennis.
"So I think if any reasonable person were to sit down and have a 30-minute conversation listening to the PTPA from the horse's mouth, I would be shocked if someone were to leave that conversation and say, 'oh, that doesn't make sense'.
"I'm going to follow up with Andy and some of these big players that are on their way out. I think it would be great to get their endorsement and get them involved."
Should Murray take up the offer, he'll join the likes of Ons Jabeur and Hubert Hurkacz, who sit on the PTPA executive committee.
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